The Evolution of Linear Programming Utilization in Supply Chain Management: Pre-pandemic and Pandemic Period Comparison
AUTHORS
Lenka Veselovská,Matej Bel University, Institute of Managerial Systems, Francisciho Poprad, Slovak Republic
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought new challenges in the 21st century, which must be faced not only by companies but also by their entire supply chains. This research study aimed to examine the implications of this pandemic through the changes in the application of linear programming to optimization in supply chain management. This study was carried out on two sample files consisting of Slovak manufacturing enterprises during the pre-pandemic and pandemic period. There were two main criteria of selection. Firstly it was the orientation of business activities of the company and secondly, it was the size since only medium-sized and large-sized enterprises were examined. The representativeness of both sample files was confirmed by the application of Pearson´s chi-squared test (χ2 - test) due to the above criteria. The findings of this research imply both academia and business practice. It was discovered that the utilization of linear programming methods in supply chain management increased during the pandemic. The decrease in the number of customers was experienced by the higher percentage of companies that had not utilized linear programming before the outbreak of the pandemic. Resource allocation was the application with the largest representation during both surveys, even though there was a slight decrease in 2021. An increase in the number of companies that applied these methods was recorded in waste management, distribution plans, and financial management.
KEYWORDS
COVID-19, Linear programming, Supply chain management, Optimization
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